Friday, May 31, 2013

Whole Foods understand the food consumer better the
than most other food retailers. Understanding that consumers wanted better for
you food continues to be one of the company’s strengths. When we talk about Whole Foods inclusive
strategy we are speaking about Whole Foods ability to incorporate the
consumer’s desire for “better for you” all day long.

Whole Foods understood that the consumer wanted
better for you food but did not have time to cook it or the skill set to cook
it. Thus Whole Foods added stations within the stores for ready-2-eat and
heat-N-eat fresh prepared food creating additional points of distribution right
in the stores. Consumers loved it.

Once known for 50,000, 60,000 and 65,000 square foot
units consumer found it took too long to shop. Whole Foods reduced store size
for new units two years ago and ROI on new units is up. It must also be noted
that fresh prepared food sales and space allotted for grocerant niche food is
up as well.

Now Whole Foods is planning on expanding points of
distribution again this time with a program called “Click and Collect”. Click and collect is a new online ordering
program with store pick-up of food ordered. Whole Foods understands consumers
are mobile, click and collect complements industry trends and most important
adds value to consumers today and tomorrow.

Whole Foods goal is to more than double the number
of stores (current 340) and grow to 1,000 in the United States alone. There is
no doubt sales will double as more points of distribution are added. If success
leaves clues a consumer focused strategy is one of them.

Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma,
WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit
operator, consultant and brand/product positioning. Since 1991
Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the
Grocerant niche for more on Steven Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Every sector of retail is experiencing accelerated
growth while finding success within the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh
prepared food niche aka the grocerant niche. Last week we learned that in
California the El Cerrito Natural Grocery is expanding remodeling the store
next door to include a café that will offer fresh prepared ready-2-eat
sandwiches, salads, pizza, baked goods, coffee, espresso drinks.

The
café / food-service counters will offer a variety of natural meals, snacks that
can be eaten on site or pre-ordered and picked up for to-go. El Cerrito Natural
Grocery is “Basically we're going to be able to offer all the things we haven't
been able to offer in the store," stated Robin Valerie Low, of El Cerrito
Natural Grocery.

The
menu offerings “includes a cafe with coffee, tea and hot chocolate with multiple
flavors of hot chocolate including Mexican, Peruvian, a bakery section,
made-to-order and ready-made sandwiches, fresh pizza, salads, a cheese shop, a
wine and beer shop, and an ice cream counter. There'll also be rotisserie
chicken and daily "blue plate special" meals, Low said. There will be
seating with a view of the hills as well.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Research company after
research company of late has reported the success the grocery sector is finding
selling ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food. NPD reported between 2006 and 2012 that the
grocery/supermarket sector increased sales of prepared meals by 46 Million.
Then Technomic projected that the rate of growth within the grocery ready-2-eat
prepared meal space would be larger than the growth rate for the restaurant
sector in both 2013 and 2014.

Here
is one example how the grocery store sector got cooking. Schnucks registered Dietitian Kara Behlke
is partnering with the team at Schnucks Kehrs Mill, “to deliver
Summer Cooking Camps for young foodies ages 5-8 and 9-12. Camps start
Monday, June 10 and run through Friday, Aug. 9, but it’s based on a flexible
schedule so campers can also register for individual classes…

Each action-packed
day offers a different theme and a new hands-on food adventure. According
to Behlke, the summer program will offer a complete learning experience with
cooking and nutrition lessons as well as related crafts and activities.
“This is not like your typical summer camp. Our schedule is designed to
be flexible in order to fit into every family’s busy summer schedule.
Young foodies can sign up for one class, for a morning or afternoon session, a
full week or multiple weeks,” she said.”

Behlke and the
Schnucks summer nutrition team are making learning fun and exciting with themes
like “Campfire Cooking” and “Magical Wizardry” for the younger set and
“Chuckwagon Chow” and “Tie-Dye Surprise” for the older age group. “Kids will
learn to cook with recipes, work with kitchen equipment, create crafts to take
home and participate in activities all focused around making food fun and
learning how to prepare nutritious foods,” Behlke said. “Smaller class
sizes and a team of support staff, means more individual attention and more
happy campers!”

Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma,
WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit
operator, consultant and brand/product positioning. Since 1991
Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the
Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Where are we going
for dinner? Today the options for dinner have turned to opportunity for many
non-traditional food retailers including grocery stores. Going out to dinner
was once a treat, then the norm today consumer content with their 65 inch
HDTV’s are asking: Where are we going to get dinner?

Darren Tristano,
Executive Vice President of Chicago based Technomic states that “consumers turn
to retailers for prepared food most often in the evenings”. Restaurants need to recognize that increase
competition for share of stomach comes from non-traditional fresh prepared food
retail companies the ilk of grocery stores, Drug stores, C-stores and Club
stores.

Technomic’s research
found that customers of non-traditional fresh prepared food from the
aforementioned list of new competitors rated “supermarkets and c-stores equal
to or better than limited-service restaurants”. His examples were; “53 percent
of consumers say the freshness of prepared foods at conveniences stores is on
par with that of limited service-restaurant fare”. Supermarket offerings did
just a little better than that “54 percent said food freshness is comparable at
supermarkets with 24 percent saying supermarket prepared foods are fresher”.

A full one in five
consumers today identified grocery-store prepared food as a Top alternative to
a restaurant. Regular readers of this blog know we have been providing the
success clues for the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food niche
since 1991 and none of this is a surprise to us. The rest of you however must the momentum
within this sector is building and the current numbers alone are
impressive. The grocery and c-store
sectors account for $37 billion in U.S. sales alone with $20 billion for
grocery and 10.7 for c-stores according to Technomic. That number grew $2 Billion dollars from 2010
to 2012.

This niche has more
than resonated with consumers it is now either a preferred choice or a clear
option. Restaurants need to be mindful of the momentum in consumer
satisfaction, industry growth rate and the new retail food price, service,
equilibrium being established.

The
grocerant niche is the result of the blurring line between restaurants, grocery
stores, convenience stores, and drug stores all selling fresh prepared,
portable, convenient meal solutions.
Targeted at the time-starved consumer with Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat
fresh prepared food components that are perceived “better for you”, and
portioned for one or two. Consumers like the Convenient
Meal Participation, Differentiation, Individualization / Family Customization
that these retailers offer.

Restaurateurs need to
be particularly mindful of developments within grocerant niche for they are
driving the change within the price, value, service equilibrium in retail
foodservice.

Others missed evolving marketing trends

It is at the intersection of the consumer,
technology and The 5 P’s of Food Marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement,
Portability, and Price that retail food sales competition is expanding. Driving
ever greater Mix and Match bundled meal options and new points of distribution
for consumers. Consumers love the
on-the-go options in fact Zaget’s 2013 NYC Restaurant Survey found that in New York at-home meals
surpassed dining out for the first time in 30 years.

Looking
back, during the late Home Meal Replacement frenzy grocery stores, C-stores and
restaurants all studied with excitement the successful developments of Phil
Romano’s Eatzi’s. Eatzi’s is Where Phil
turned the page from restaurateur to foodservice retailer and food
merchant. Phil’s experiment was a
smashing success. It was and remains consumer interactive, participatory with
visceral authenticity recording sales of 17 Million a year at the original
store. Now in NYC Eatley is Eatzi’s on
steroids doing close to 60 Million a year in sales.

Legacy
Home Meal Replacement focus quickly faded away in the Restaurant side of
business. However in the Grocery, C-store and Drug Store sector it continued to
be studied, tested, and implemented. Today the grocerant niche is the strategic
path of choice for non-traditional food retailers, targeted at restaurant
customers, profitable and expanding at an ever increasing pace.

Some simply discounted
competitors

Wawa was once considered a
convenience store now they view themselves as a restaurant with a focus of
serving Fast Casual Food- - To Go.
At Wawa customers are now finding What’s
for Breakfast, What’s for Lunch and now what’s for Dinner. Sheetz once a convenience store now calls
themselves a restaurant that sells gas. Sheetz
Made To Order food is a hit with customers.
Sheetz is successful
contemporizing legacy C-store products with differentiation, customization and
personalization. Consumer like the variety, 24 hour menu serving all day parts
- all day long - a wide range of consumer meal and snacking needs. Sounds and acts like a restaurant doing all
the right things.

Rutter’s is another convenience
store in transition. Rutter’s understands the unique balance between palate,
price, pleasure and the consumer’s drive for qualitative distinctive
differentiated new messaging and Rutter’s is meeting that need set. The food
value proposition equilibrium for the consumer today balances; better for you, flavor, and traditional
products all blendedinto
something with a twist. In industry
speak, differentiated does not mean different to the consumer it means
familiar. Rutter’s is an example of
brand identity extending beyond consumer expectations within the traditional
conveniences store sector. Too the consumer Rutter’s is a direct valued
competitor within the QSR space.

Food Quality Never
Takes a Step Back. The grocerant niche is driving new competitive points for
food distribution which are a step above consumer expectation in most
cases. Food quality never takes a step
back, these evolving new points of fresh food will continue to improve over
time increasing industry competitiveness. Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, and Starbucks,
here comes The C-store sector. When
you look at the menu items offered by these legacy conveniences store operators
it is clear to see that the grocerant niche is a platform that is creating
equilibrium. In other words they are
not discouraged or intimated by competition from any sector.

Warning when Non traditional retailers garner
your customers something is not right

They
understand that the grocerant niche is a result of the blurring of the line
between restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores all selling
fresh prepared, portable convenient meal solutions. Targeted at the time-starved consumer with
Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food components that are “better for
you”, portable and portioned for one or two. All of these operators want a
larger share of the retail food market. They want to take share from the restaurants.

During
Transformational period’s legacy industries are at times forced to expand at a
pace unseen in decades. The grocerant niche is contributing too redefining the
retail foodservice experience. The Ready-2-Eat & Heat-N-Eat fresh and
prepared food niche is expanding rapidly within the grocery sector. Whole Foods
is no longer Whole Paycheck but Whole Fresh Food Fast and consumers find that
is “better for you”.

Whole Foods is
driving customer frequency while building loyalty with Fresh prepared
ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat better for you food. Whole Foods focus is on
convenient meal participation, better for you differentiation, and
individualization.

With
powerful well Financed companies the ilk of Walgreens entering the fresh food
space that is something no food retailer should dismiss as not my
competitor. Walgreens with over 78
Billion in sales they can try and try again. Walgreens might just be the next
Next Biggest Competitor in the retail food space.

It
must be noted that Walgreen’s all but exited retail food service when they sold
their last Wag’s restaurant. We all must
remember at one time Walgreens was a tier one fresh food retail operator /
restaurant. Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food runs deep in the legacy of
Walgreens.

Walgreens Fresh with Duane Reade have 7,500+ retail outlets. Who is selling what in your back yard? With Walgreens
entering the fresh food area again with meats, wraps, soups "and other
on-the-go meal options, as well as convenient alternatives for tonight's family
meal, it is clear that the future of fresh food retail leadership may be up in
the air.

Consumers evolve they do not go backwards

Food Retailing
Never Take a Step Backward. Consumers
are dynamic not static always looking to save both time and money. The grocerant niche is propelling new quality
points of fresh food distribution and competitors that are well financed. Today
a home cooked meal is in large part assembled from fresh prepared meal
components not cooked from scratch. Is
your restaurant selling into that channel?

Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma,
WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit
operator, consultant and brand/product positioning. Since 1991
Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the
Grocerant niche for more on Steven Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Five years from now at the intersection of the consumer,
fresh prepared food and technology they will have found that consumer eating behavior is
evolving and is now beyond the control of traditional food marketers. Evolving
culture and lifestyle, demographics along with the new uncertain economy are
all putting pressure on the American food consumer: Demands of work, economic
shrinkage, demands of raising a family, commuting, social interaction, kid's
after-school activities, all contribute to a food marketplace where convenience
vies with price over legacy brands. That one in 10 shoppers choose higher-end
cuts of meat in order to recreate a restaurant dining experience (FMI, 2013).

Packaging Advances Extended Acceptance

Five years from now restaurant chain leaders will understand that packaging
advances help create new points of non-traditional food distribution have
empowered consumer choice, and American embraced these choices even as legacy
marketers cringe. Who's after restaurant food dollars… simply put… everyone.

Why should you care if Walgreens is selling fresh prepared ready-2-eat and
made-2-order sandwiches? Why should you care if Whole Foods, Trader Joe's,
Safeway and Wegmans are selling ready-2-eat and or heat-N-eat fresh pizza? Why
should you care if Coinstar is selling Seattle Best Coffee at 1,000 locations for $1.00?

You should care because they are selling it, and you are not! The fastest
growing sector of retail food service for the past four years has been the
Convenience store sector. The C-store sectors growth in large part has been
driven by fresh prepared food. Non-traditional
avenues of distribution are growing, gobbling market share while establishing new patterns
of consumption, price points and customer loyalty.

The Shopper is in Control Spurring New Retail Food
Formats

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have created ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh
prepared food items with qualitative differentiation as an entity with identity
that has help propel them into ready-2-eat fresh prepared food leadership. In
fact recent research shows that both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are each
known for high quality (restaurant quality) ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat foods
with distinctive offerings. More important each is leading with innovative
products and package size that create value and have positioned each chain as a
food shopping destination for meal components customized and
personalized for immediate consumption or mix and matched for a meal time at
home. In short they are stealing your customers.

Walgreens
fresh prepared food i s restaurant quality and priced less than Panera Bread
or Corner Bakery CAFE. BothPanera
Bread and Corner Bakery CAFE thrive in urban
locations. Walgreens is now growing price, quality and speed of service
advantages over legacy retailers. Legacy restaurant chains must reconsider the
speed at which they evolve and adapt or non-traditional outlets will capture
profits margins as well.

Traditional views of meals and mealtime can pretty much be discarded.
Legacy retailers waiting for the "next big thing" to copy simply
might be out of luck this time. Legacy food retailers may not like to be first
movers very much but it may prove that waiting too long will not work this
time.

The retail food world is evolving at an ever increasing pace filled with
innovation in food, portion size, points of distribution, and quality fresh
prepared meal solutions. The price, value, service equilibrium is resetting in
retail foodservice. In order to edify the brand and reinforce consumer
relevance restaurateurs must leverage Foodservice Solutions® 5P's
of food marketing.

Many legacy food retailers continue to practice brand protectionism, stifle
the brand while diminishing consumer relevance. The consumer is dynamic not
static. Brands must be dynamic, evolving with the consumer. Four more years of
watching other retail sectors thrive should be long enough. Success in the
restaurant world is no longer simply about what happens within your 4 walls.

Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma, WA based
Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit operator,
consultant and brand/product positioning. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of
Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven
Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant

Saturday, May 25, 2013

When industry trade magazine hyperbole garners more
attention than consumers you know trouble is brewing. When special seminars are hyped
by legacy research companies as a way to pump-up internal quarterly sales
numbers garnering the attention of only lethargic marketers. When awards are
given out to clients and newbie’s to ensure attendance and press coverage at Fast Casual seminars you
know the signs of a top are near. Is you
company racing to the middle? Do you want to your company to stand up and stand out?

Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will be
attending the National
Restaurant Show in Chicago networking, learning and laughing aloud about
the money they wasted sending employees to Fast Casual Summits. Laughing aloud
about how a multi-billion dollar restaurant industry missed the Consumer
Marketing Migration that took place from 1999 to 2013.

Food Marketing Migration

Where are restaurant customers migrating? In a new study
released by the NPD Group found that in the three years between 2006 and 2012
that the grocery/supermarket sector increased sales of prepared meals by 46
Million. That’s 46 Million fresh ready-2-eat meal occasions that could have
been would have been restaurant meals.

Chain Drug stores have taken notice and continue testing
fresh prepared food at locations from coast to coast. Five years from now when
restaurant chain leaders return to Chicago for the NRA Restaurant Show they
will be focused on Non-traditional fresh food competitive growth while looking
for new non-traditional points for their fresh food offerings.

Restaurants Coddling Brand Protectionism

Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will wonder how Mintel, NPD
and Technomic reported on but missed the Consumer Marketing Migration.
Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will laugh at the fact that the
undercurrents of the evolving face of retail food competition has been all
around yet while they practiced brand protectionism, drug
stores, C-stores and grocery stores simply catered to the evolving consumer
preferences garnering share of stomach and did so within in the ready-2-eat and
heat-N-eat fresh prepared
food grocerant niche .

Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will wonder why when in 2013
Technomic reported that revenue from prepared foods at supermarkets had
increased more than six percent annually during the past five years. Why they
continued to host, speak and pontificate on Fast Casual when the consumer had
migrated. More important T echnomic reported that the prepared food number grows to
13 percent for mass merchandisers and superstores during the same
period. All the while the margins on prepared food were expanding creating a
fast growing new revenue center for fresh prepared food in this non-traditional
fresh prepared food retail sector.

Looking Outside Current Boundaries

Five years from now all food retailers will evaluate how they do business
not how they did business. Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will be
laughing how they missed the universal commonalties the drug store, grocery and
c-store food marketers did not. Five years from now they will understand that
successful competition comes from outside well established operating
boundaries.

Five years from now no one will wonder about the findings in a Harris Poll
of 2,496 adults surveyed online between February 13 and 18, 2013 by Harris
Interactive found that Americans continue to be reducing how often that they eat
out at restaurants : Fast food restaurant chain (26% less, 14% more),Local
casual dining restaurant (20% less, 14% more),Casual dining restaurant chain
(24% less, 11% more),Local fine dining restaurant (21% less, 7% more),Fine
dining restaurant chain (23% less, 4% more).

Channel Blurring

Five years from now all food marketers will understand that channel
blurring exist only in the minds-eye of legacy food marketers not in the
minds-eye of consumers.

Five years from now Food retailers will understand the 65 Inch HDTV
Syndrome Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru Steven Johnson found: The
line between restaurants and food retailers is growing ever thinner. The fight
for America's food dollars continues to intensify as consumers find fresh
prepared ready-2-eat food options at a wide and growing array of outlets across
almost every channel: convenience stores, chain drug stores, restaurants,
grocery stores, club stores, vending and even more non-food retailers like
dollar stores. While manufacturers, retailers and restaurants worry about
choice overload, consumers have embraced their new choices and show no signs of
returning to the old ways. This fight is taking place in what is called the
grocerant niche.

The restaurant industry is not an industry known for trying to be first as
in fastest to market with an ideation, food or technology advance. In the
United States the larger the chain in almost all cases the more slowly they are
to adopt something than a smaller chain or independent restaurants will. Chain
restaurants goal is simple feed one meal at a time in the restaurant while
protecting and edifying the brand.

Historically chain restaurant leaders have denied the
credibility of start-up competitors as non-relevant. The pizza sector is a
great example; evolving from family dinning independents to national chain of
"Red Roof" Italian, then to delivery only outlets and now
take-N-bake is garnering market share in the pizza sector. (Note:Home
Made Pizza CompanyandPapa
Murphy'sare further examples of take and bake pizza
operators.)

Friday, May 24, 2013

Restaurant
chains witnessing customer migration are taking steps to extend brand
relevance, edifying restaurant unit sales with a stronger brand presence while
simultaneously expanding into non-traditional points of distribution. Baskin-Robbins is just the latest company
properly tracking its core consumer and announcing that it is rolling out a new
line of “shelf stable sherbet flavored freezer bars” they will initially be
sold at retailers the ilk of CVS/pharmacy, Dollar General, Rite Aid, and
Walgreens.

Baskin-Robbins
parent company Dunkin’ Donuts has long sold packages of its coffee in
supermarkets that consumers can buy and then use to brew coffee at home.
However to enjoy a frozen treat from Baskin-Robbins treat has generally meant a
trip to a Baskin-Robbins store. Not any more soon Sherbet Flavored Freezer Bars
will be available at many retailers, and that means that Baskin-Robbins
products will be exposed to a wider audience.

A box of
the new product (pictured above) contains 12 Sherbet Flavored Freezer Bars, and
the box has a suggested retail price of $2.99 to $3.49, Baskin-Robbins said. John
Fassak, vice president of business development for Dunkin’ Brands, stated “We
look forward to introducing the Baskin-Robbins brand to even more people across
the US and giving our existing guests yet another way to enjoy our wide array
of ice cream flavors and frozen treats,”.

Baskin-Robbins
understands that increasing brand value means increasing opportunity to buy,
focusing on share of stomach, the value of the brand in an Omni-channel retail
world.

While some
franchisee may be concerned about the value of the brand being diminished they
should not be concerned for long. Each
CPG item sold edifies the brand and extends the brands value. This is a good
retail strategy. This Omni-channel strategy will build additional awareness and
traction that will ultimately benefit franchisees.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in
outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify
additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration
strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global
leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson,
Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

In the Netherlands with on-going economic weakness it is no surprise to us
that “convenient, easy to prepare Ready Meals are, perhaps unsurprisingly, the
most popular category in the sector, with value and volume shares of 69.4% and
69.7% respectively for 2012. This popularity looks to continue over the next
five years, as the category grows ahead of the sector in terms of both value
and volume, at a CAGR of 2.7% and 3.3% respectively to 2017.”

This month we have been to or noted success of Jaya the Grocer in Malaysia,
Coles in Australia, Pueblo, Ralphs and SuperMax in Puerto Rico, and Walgreens
in the United States, there is no doubt that the growth of the grocerant niche
is a trend not a fad.

Legacy food retailers including restaurants, grocery stores and C-stores
are now paying attention to this fast evolving consumer focused migration
wondering what to do. Well, we know what
works best in every sector and can assist you in edifying your brand for
success. Is your company evolving with
contemporized consumer relevance as fast as the consumer?

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat
fresh prepared food niche growth continues to outpace all other sectors of
retail foodservice. Restaurants today
need to become good food merchants; not just restaurateurs serving one meal a
person in store at a time. Outback Steakhouse has edified consumer relevance
with its “Curbside Take-Away and Online Ordering”.

Time-starved, quality focused,
consumers want Outback's convenient Curbside Take-Away® Online Ordering. Integrating ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat
options that are as easy as point, click, and eat or in Outback’s case head to
your local Outback and pick up your favorite items make life easy. That is a
win for Outback and a win for consumers.

Restaurants need to understand that the line between restaurants and food
retailers is growing ever thinner. The fight for America's food dollars
continues to intensify as consumers find fresh prepared ready-2-eat food
options at a wide and growing array of outlets across almost every channel:
convenience stores, chain drug stores, restaurants, grocery stores, club
stores, vending and even more non-food retailers like dollar stores. In an
Omni-channel food retail world restaurants can no longer think that they
operate in a single environment.

While food retailers and restaurants worry about choice overload, consumers
have embraced their new choices and show no signs of returning to the old ways.
This fight is taking place in what is called the grocerant niche. Restaurants
like Outback that expand brand focus on “share of stomach” rather than just
table turns will be winning in food retail for years to come.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Restaurateurs how does
your food look packaged To-Go? Does your
customer know what is for dinner? At 4 PM 81% of US consumers do not know what
they are going to eat that night for dinner.
Do you have a business development plan that can leverage your skill set
into the retail food channel? Do you or your franchisees post real time
pictures of fresh prepared food? Instagram, like no other tool is edifying
consumers on daily specials and can entice them to buy more effectively in real
time.

Consumers are
interactive and desire a participatory look and feel with food, brands and
family. Instagram can bind all three
while solving the problem of what’s for dinner.
Photos of your Food in real time can help you garner income while
solving the most contemporary daily conundrum What’s for dinner?

By way of
introduction my name is Steve Johnson and I am currently the Grocerant Guru at
Foodservice Solutions®. My focus is on
ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh and prepared food. In the United States the market size for
grocerant niche (ready-2-eat and heat-Neat fresh prepared food is 1 Trillion a year. The niche includes restaurants, grocery
stores, convenience stores and retail drug stores the ilk of Walgreens.

Success does leave
clues. Foodservice Solutions® specific
interest is in building out this niche leveraging your menu and products. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Foodservice Solutions®
specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify,
quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand
leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant.

Monday, May 20, 2013

When you hear a CEO of any
company is quoted saying “We’re going where our customer wants us to go” you
know success is near. Well that is
exactly what Michael K. Bloom, President and CEO of Family Dollar Stores
said. Looks as if heat-N-eat and
ready-2-eat food is the lynch pin of success for another retail sector.

Family Dollar current sales
mix is about 64.6% consumables. Plans are now in place to continue to increase
the assortment of consumables at its stores to drive sales. They expect to
expect to add more than 1,000 new consumable SKUs 2012. Regular readers of this blog know the retail
food landscape is evolving fast. .

Dollar Tree like Family Dollar
is continuing to install freezers and coolers at additional stores this year
“because frozen and refrigerated product drives traffic into our stores.” A
company spokesperson said. Dollar Tree offers perishables and frozen foods at
2,220 stores — about half of its 4,351 total.

Branded fresh prepared
ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat is redefining the food landscape. Walgreens, Rite Aid, 7 Eleven, Dollar Tree
and Family Dollar are all going where the customers wants them to go! Is your company going somewhere new? Are you moving forward with the consumer?

Foodservice Solutions®
specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify,
quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand
leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Subway’s message of “Better
For You” sandwiches and “better for you” concept has resonated with consumers
since its inception. The consumer
interactive participatory assembly of the sandwich combined with aromatic and visceral
presentation of fresh baked bread has creates a halo of “better for you” around
the brand.

Unit sales were propelled higher with the
price point promotion of the $ 5 dollar foot long. Not only did the $ 5 dollar foot long edify
the franchisee it edified the consumer with the brand creating additional
contemporized consumer relevance.

Subway day-part
success with new and expanded $3.00 Breakfast Combo offering continues to drive
top line growth and bottom line profits.
The signal that Subway is sending to the rest of the retail food
industry is look out we are serious about building breakfast and don’t intend
on giving any ground on lunch.

Subway clearly is utilizing Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement,
Portability and Price; leveraging all brand attributes with the 5 P’s. Subway is building
strong sales with an integrated grocerant niche food program leveraging distinctive differentiated food consumables as an entity with identity by day part.

Interested
in learning how the 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand
while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation
and individualization contact us via Email us at: grocerant@q.com or visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant

Saturday, May 18, 2013

There is no better place in the country to be today
than one of Bud’s Chicken and Seafood restaurants located in South
Florida. This regional chain restaurant
has developed a national following. This
second generation family owned and consummately run chain understands the
grocerant niche, the importance of a local sustainable seafood chain operation,
the power of consumer choice and meal component bundling.

When it comes too clam strips Bud’s is simply one
of the best. Here is what one of his
loyal customers had to say; “Ming T from Westminster, Colorado writes “I LOVE
BUD's! Every time I go down to the Palm Beach area this is a must. I think I
had Bud's 4 times during the 7 days I was in West Palm. The staff is so
friendly and helpful and the fried clam strips with tartar sauce is second to
none. If you're in the mood for some really good fried food I would highly
suggest you get your rear-end down there. The hush puppies are a fluffy corn
filled heaven... oh man, I'm drooling again!”

Bud’s Chicken and Seafood understands Foodservice
Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing: Product,
Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price. Building strong sales with an integrated
grocerant niche food program leveraging distinctive
differentiated food consumables as an entity
with identity by day part is something that Bud’s does well.

Foodservice Solutions®
specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify,
quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand
leveraging integration strategy. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of
Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant

Friday, May 17, 2013

Grocerant ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat
fresh prepared food is blurring the line between restaurants and grocery
stores. Grocerant food targets the time-starved consumers, not with ingredients
to make from scratch rather with ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat food components that
can be bundled into a meal.

Just
think about how you shop for most meal preparation needs. You might buy a
rotisserie chicken, pick out something from a salad bar and maybe an appetizer
at the deli service case. Those are components vs. buying uncooked chicken, a
head of lettuce and then having to clean, cut, season and then season and spend
time cooking.

Steven Johnson, is the Grocerant
Guru at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solution® and defines the niche this way "Grocerant
means any retail food item that is ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat
while fresh prepared. Currently these items can be found in grocery stores in
the deli / lifestyle section, Convenience stores in the prepared food area and
prepackaged, ready to eat items and in restaurants under the To-go, takeout or
take away or delivery section of the menu or on the website and now at Chain
Drug Stores Walgreens and Duane Reade."

What is Driving the Grocerant Trend

Its 4 PM: your customers are just beginning to think
about what's for dinner. 81% of American consumers are unsure about what's for
dinner. Time
Starved Consumers are looking for high quality ready to eat foods and
ready to heat meals. Today's time starved consumer wants to purchase meal
components that they can bundle into a customized family meal that will please
everyone without spending time cooking.

Examples of Grocerants

Restaurant examples are McDonalds, Pret
A Manger Burger King, Pizza Hut, Papa Murphy's and Starbucks, each having a fresh
ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat food menu. You may not think of Walgreens as a food
destination yet Walgreens sells fresh soft-serve yogurt, coffee and sushi at
selected stores, so they are technically grocerants. In the Casual Dining
sector Maggiano's Little Italy offers a buy one take a 2nd home for
free in their Classic Pastas menu section.

Convenience Store examples are 7 Eleven, Wawa,
Sheetz and QuickChek, all of which sell fresh and prepared sandwiches, salads,
beverages.

Drug Store
examples are Walgreen and Duane Reade both offer in both New York and
ChicagoSushi, Smoothie, Wine, Coffee, and Fro-yo Bars then
there are the 455+ CafeW’s severing baked goods and beverages.

The retail supermarket and convenience store sector have
unique grocerant challenges. Presentation of the ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat
fresh food is important. When you get a meal at a restaurant, the plate and the
food look great… let's call this "food for now". Retailers are
primarily selling "food for later" or take-out and unless an item is
a sandwich, the looks of ready-2-eat meals and snacks begin to change.

Why is it so hard to package food to go? In the Hot food
section of the grocery store the food in most cases does not look appealing so
our expectations drop when we get it for Take-Away. In convenience stores like
Wawa, the ready to eat food looks great in the to-go containers. Why? Because
Wawa puts the entire package together. They exert more control on the look and
feel of "food for later".

Around the world we are now seeing sections in
department's stores and kiosk in malls in Europe and Asia and airports around
the world. The items can range from entrees to side items and deserts. Some
examples of items range from fried chicken, mash potatoes, cream spinach, to
liver and onions, pizza, hot dogs, steak, prime rib, various casseroles
(hot-dish) to salads, side salads pie, cake and any single proportioned
deserts. They can be picked up at the specific unit, or delivered.

In summary, a Grocerant is a result of the blurring of
the line between restaurants and grocery stores aimed at the time-starved
consumer with ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat food components that can be bundled
into a meal. With new non-traditional points of distribution and retail food
competition opening daily it is the grocerant niche that is growing faster than
any other sector of food retail today.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Five years from now restaurant chain
leaders will understand that packaging advances help create new points of
non-traditional food distribution have empowered consumer choice.

46 Million Reasons
Restaurants Should be Concerned:

In three years between 2009
and 2012 NPD reported that the grocery/supermarket sector increased sales of
prepared meals by 46 Million. That occurred in a short three year period.
Chain Drug stores have taken notice and continue testing fresh prepared food at
locations from coast to coast. Five years from now as restaurant chain leaders
return to Chicago for the restaurant show they will be focused on
Non-traditional fresh food competitive growth.

Restaurant Customer Migration Expanding

Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will be
attending the National
Restaurant Show in Chicago networking, learning and
laughing aloud about the money they wasted sending employees to Fast Casual
Summits. Laughing aloud about how a multi-billion dollar restaurant industry
missed the Consumer
Marketing Migration that took place from 1999 to 2013.

Coddling Brand Protectionism

Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will wonder
how Mintel, NPD and Technomic reported on but missed the Consumer Marketing
Migration. Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will laugh at the
fact that the undercurrents of the evolving face of retail food competition has
been all around yet while they practiced brand protectionism, drug
stores, C-stores and grocery stores simply catered to the
evolving consumer preferences garnering share of stomach and did so within in
the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared
food grocerant niche .

Five years from now chain restaurant leaders will wonder
why when in 2013 Technomic reported that revenue from prepared foods at
supermarkets had increased more than six percent annually during the past five
years. Why they continued to host, speak and pontificate on Fast Casual when
the consumer had migrated. More important T echnomic reported that the prepared food number grows to
13 percent for mass merchandisers and superstores
during the same period. All the while the margins on prepared food were
expanding creating a fast growing new revenue center for fresh prepared food in
this non-traditional fresh prepared food retail sector.

Looking Outside Current Boundaries

Five years from now all food retailers will evaluate how
they do business not how they did business. Five years from now chain
restaurant leaders will be laughing how they missed the universal commonalties
the drug store, grocery and c-store food marketers did not. Five years from now
they will understand that successful competition comes from outside well
established operating boundaries.

Five years from now no one will wonder about the findings
in a Harris Poll of 2,496 adults surveyed online between February 13 and 18,
2013 by Harris Interactive found that Americans continue to be reducing how often that they eat
out at restaurants : Fast food restaurant chain (26% less,
14% more),Local casual dining restaurant (20% less, 14% more),Casual dining
restaurant chain (24% less, 11% more),Local fine dining restaurant (21% less,
7% more),Fine dining restaurant chain (23% less, 4% more).

Channel Blurring

Five years from now all food marketers will understand
that channel blurring exist only in the minds-eye of legacy food marketers not
in the minds-eye of consumers.

Five years from now Food retailers will understand the 65
Inch HDTV Syndrome Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru Steven Johnson
found: The line between restaurants and food retailers is growing ever thinner.
The fight for America's food dollars continues to intensify as consumers find
fresh prepared ready-2-eat food options at a wide and growing array of outlets
across almost every channel: convenience stores, chain drug stores,
restaurants, grocery stores, club stores, vending and even more non-food
retailers like dollar stores. While manufacturers, retailers and restaurants
worry about choice overload, consumers have embraced their new choices and show
no signs of returning to the old ways. This fight is taking place in what is
called the grocerant niche.

The restaurant industry is not an industry known for
trying to be first as in fastest to market with an ideation, food or technology
advance. In the United States the larger the chain in almost all cases the more
slowly they are to adopt something than a smaller chain or independent
restaurants will. Chain restaurants goal is simple feed one meal at a time in
the restaurant while protecting and edifying the brand.

Historically chain restaurant leaders have denied the
credibility of start-up competitors as non-relevant. The pizza sector is a
great example; evolving from family dinning independents to national chain of
"Red Roof" Italian, then to delivery only outlets and now
take-N-bake is garnering market share in the pizza sector. (Note:Home
Made Pizza CompanyandPapa
Murphy'sare further examples of take and bake
pizza operators.)

Future Trends Point
to an Increase in Non-Traditional Meal Occasions

Five years from now restaurant chain
leaders will understand that packaging advances help create new points of
non-traditional food distribution have empowered consumer choice

Foodservice Solutions

Trends in the Food Industry Point to an
Increase in Non-Traditional Meal Occasions

Five years from now at the intersection of the consumer,
fresh prepared food and technology they will have found that consumer eating
behavior is evolving and is now beyond the control of traditional food
marketers. Evolving culture and lifestyle, demographics along with the new
uncertain economy are all putting pressure on the American food consumer:
Demands of work, economic shrinkage, demands of raising a family, commuting,
social interaction, kid's after-school activities, all contribute to a food
marketplace where convenience vies with price over legacy brands. That one in
10 shoppers choose higher-end cuts of meat in order to recreate a restaurant
dining experience (FMI, 2013).

Packaging Advances Extended Acceptance

Five years from now restaurant chain leaders will
understand that packaging advances help create new points of non-traditional food
distribution have empowered consumer choice, and American embraced these
choices even as legacy marketers cringe. Who's after restaurant food dollars…
simply put… everyone.

Why should you care if Walgreens is selling fresh
prepared ready-2-eat and made-2-order sandwiches? Why should you care if Whole
Foods, Trader Joe's, Safeway and Wegmans are selling ready-2-eat and or
heat-N-eat fresh pizza? Why should you care if Coinstar is selling Seattle Best Coffee at 1,000 locations for $1.00?

You should care because they are selling it, and you are
not! The fastest growing sector of retail food service for the past four years
has been the Convenience store sector. The C-store sectors growth in large part
has been driven by fresh prepared food. Non-traditional
avenues of distribution are growing, gobbling market share while establishing
new patterns of consumption, price points and customer loyalty.

The Shopper is in Control Spurring New
Retail Food Formats

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have created ready-2-eat and
heat-N-eat fresh prepared food items with qualitative differentiation as an
entity with identity that has help propel them into ready-2-eat fresh prepared
food leadership. In fact recent research shows that both Trader Joe's and Whole
Foods are each known for high quality (restaurant quality) ready-2-eat and
heat-N-eat foods with distinctive offerings. More important each is leading
with innovative products and package size that create value and have positioned
each chain as a food shopping destination for meal components customized
and personalized for immediate consumption or mix and matched for a meal time
at home. In short they are stealing your customers.

Walgreens
fresh prepared food i s restaurant quality and priced less than
Panera Bread or Corner Bakery CAFE. BothPanera
Bread and Corner
Bakery CAFE thrive in urban locations. Walgreens is
now growing price, quality and speed of service advantages over legacy
retailers. Legacy restaurant chains must reconsider the speed at which they
evolve and adapt or non-traditional outlets will capture profits margins as
well.

Traditional views of meals and mealtime can pretty much
be discarded. Legacy retailers waiting for the "next big thing" to
copy simply might be out of luck this time. Legacy food retailers may not like
to be first movers very much but it may prove that waiting too long will not
work this time.

The retail food world is evolving at an ever increasing
pace filled with innovation in food, portion size, points of distribution, and
quality fresh prepared meal solutions. The price, value, service equilibrium is
resetting in retail foodservice. In order to edify the brand and reinforce
consumer relevance restaurateurs must leverage Foodservice Solutions® 5P's
of food marketing.

Many legacy food retailers continue to practice brand
protectionism, stifle the brand while diminishing consumer relevance. The
consumer is dynamic not static. Brands must be dynamic, evolving with the
consumer. Four more years of watching other retail sectors thrive should be
long enough. Success in the restaurant world is no longer simply about what
happens within your 4 walls.

Steven Johnson is Grocerant Guru at Tacoma,
WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive experience as a multi-unit
operator, consultant and brand/product positioning. Since 1991 Foodservice
Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for
more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant